Other than if you're visiting Argentina as part of a South American tour, Buenos Aires is likely to be your point of entry, as it has the country's only bona fide international airport. Only inveterate city-haters will resist the capital's charm. Not a place for museum fans - though several of the city's art collections are certainly worth a visit - BA is one of the world's greatest urban experiences, with its intriguing blend of French-style architecture and a vernacular style that includes houses painted in the colours of a legendary football team. From the city, also Argentina's unrivalled transport hub, the various regions fan out to the north, west and south.

Due north stretches El Litoral , a region of subtropical riverine landscapes sharing borders with Brazil and Paraguay. Here are the photogenic Iguazu waterfalls, and the much-visited Jesuit Missions whose once noble ruins are crumbling into the tangled jungle, with the notable exception of well-preserved San Ignacio Mini set among manicured parkland. Immediately to the west of El Litoral stretches the Chaco , one of Argentina's most infrequently visited regions, a place for those with a dogged interest in wildlife , especially birdlife and endangered species of mammals; but be prepared for often fiercely hot conditions, a poor tourist infrastructure and a long wait if you want to see some of its rarer denizens. Tucked away in the country's landlocked Northwest , the historic cradle of present-day Argentina, bordering on Bolivia and northern Chile, is the polychrome Quebrada del Toro which can be viewed in comfort from the Tren a los Nubes , one of the world's highest railways. Even more colourful is the much photographed Quebrada de Humahuaca , a fabulous gorge winding up to the oxygen-starved Altiplano, where llamas and their wild relatives graze on straw-like pastures. In the Valles Calchaques , a series of stunningly beautiful valleys, high-altitude vineyards produce the delightfully flowery torrontes wine.

West and immediately south of Buenos Aires is pampa, pampa and more pampa. This is where you'll still glimpse signs of the traditional gaucho culture , most famously celebrated in the charming town of San Antonio de Areco . Here, too, you'll find some of the classiest estancias , offering a combination of understated luxury and horseback adventure activities. On the Atlantic coast are a string of fun beach resorts, including long-standing favourite Mar del Plata . While the farther west you go, the larger the Central Sierras loom on the horizon: the mild climate and bucolic woodlands of these ancient mountains have attracted Argentine tourists since the late nineteenth century, and within reach of Cordoba , the country's vibrant second city, are some of the oldest resorts on the continent. Both the city and its hinterland contain some wonderful colonial architecture , including the well-preserved Jesuit estancias of Alta Gracia and Santa Catalina . In the Cuyo , farther west still, with the highest Andean peaks as a splendid backdrop, you can discover one of Argentina's most enjoyable cities, the regional capital of Mendoza , also the country's wine capital . From here, the scenic Alta Montana route climbs steeply to the Chilean border, passing Cerro Aconcagua , now well-established as a dream challenge for mountaineers from around the world. Just to the south, Las Lenas is a winter resort where a lot of skiers end up on the pages of the continent's glamour magazines, but the nearby black-and-red lava-wastes of La Payunia , one of the country's hidden jewels, are all but overlooked. Likewise, San Juan and La Rioja provinces are relatively uncharted territory, but their marvellous mountain-and-valley landscapes will reward exploration, along with their less known but often outstanding wineries. Their star attractions are a brace of parks: Parque Nacional Talampaya , with its giant red cliffs seen on many a poster, and the nearby Parque Provincial Ischigualasto , usually known the Valle de la Luna on account of its intriguing moonscapes.

Whereas neighbouring Chile takes up a mere sliver of the continent's Southern Cone, Argentina, like a greedy bedfellow hogging the blankets, has the lion's share of the wild, sparsely populated expanses of Patagonia and the archipelago of Tierra del Fuego . These are lands of seemingly endless arid steppe hemmed in for the most part by the southern leg of the Andes, a series of volcanoes, craggy peaks and deep glacial lakes. An almost unbroken chain of national parks along these Patagonian and Fuegian cordilleras make for some of the best trekking anywhere on the planet. Certainly include the savage granite peaks of the Fitz Roy sector of the Parque Nacional Los Glaciares in your itinerary but also the less frequently visited monkey-puzzle forests of Parque Nacional Lanin or the trail network of Parque Nacional Nahuel Huapi . These regions exert an irresistible lure on many visitors, and in addition to the fabulous scenery, they offer excellent opportunities for fly-fishing and adventurous horse-riding, with the famous sheep estancias as a base. For wildlife enthusiasts the Peninsula Valdes is a must-see: famous above all else as a breeding ground for southern right whales, it and the nearby coast also sustain enormous colonies of elephant seals, penguins and sea-lions. If you have a historical bent, you may like to trace the region's associations with early seafarers such as Magellan and Drake in the Bahia San Julian or Fitzroy and Darwin in the beautiful Beagle Channel off Ushuaia. Ancestors of the Tehuelche, one of the many remarkable indigenous cultures wiped out after the Europeans arrived, painted the wonderful collage of handprints and animal scenes that adorn the walls of the Cueva de las Manos Pintadas in Santa Cruz Province. Finally, you might like to track down the legacy of outlaws like Butch Cassidy who lived near Cholila, or of the Welsh settlers whose influence can still be felt in communities like Gaiman and Trevelin .